Mission

The marketing department's mission is to develop highly successful marketing professionals who deliver exceptional value to their customers, employers and communities and to advance the practice of marketing through academic and professional engagement.

The marketing curriculum focuses on traditional and online marketing skills needed in various business settings and industries. The curriculum seeks to develop competence in five areas: factual and conceptual knowledge, problem solving skills, communication skills, experiential learning, and use of information technology. Students will be prepared to enter corporate, small business or not-for-profit environments with highly valued skills and an understanding of the need for continuous learning.

Goals

To deliver a solid foundation of the concepts and theories of the marketing discipline, including market environmental issues; strategic market planning, implementation and evaluation; marketing research; buyer behavior and market segmentation; and development of marketing programs.

To engage students in critical thinking processes, requiring in-depth analysis of qualitative and quantitative market data and development of subsequent marketing strategies based on this analysis.

To enable students to evaluate marketing alternatives and commit to a course of action, using financial, organizational, environmental and ethical criteria as bases for decision making.

To teach students a variety of information technology tools and techniques to improve marketing and overall business performance and deliver greater value to customers.

To facilitate students' continuing development of listening, writing and oral communication skills.

To integrate classroom study with exposure to industry practices throughout the marketing curriculum and ensure marketing students access to experiential learning opportunities in marketing career tracks.

Co-curricular Activities and Organizations

Madison Marketing Association. This student club is affiliated with the American Marketing Association, a national marketing association for marketing professionals, faculty and students. MMA is open to all JMU students. MMA is comprehensive with its marketing programming and offers students information and activities in direct marketing, retailing and marketing management.

Professional Sales Club. This organization strives to help all students that are interested in sales and give them the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in a professional sales role.

Pi Sigma Epsilon. PSE is a professional fraternity, which focuses on programming and extracurricular experiences in marketing, personal selling, and sales management.

Mu Kappa Tau. This is an honorary marketing fraternity for students with high scholastic records. Admission is by invitation only. The club invites speakers and engages in joint programming with other JMU student organizations.

Ad Club (MAAF). The MAAF is JMU's only student advertising organization and a student chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

Special Admissions Requirements

Admission to the marketing major may be limited and competitive if student enrollment exceeds available resources.

Only those students who have been formally admitted to the College of Business will be considered for admission into the marketing department.

Degree and Major Requirements

Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing

Marketing majors conform to the general structure of the B.B.A. degree program. The B.B.A. degree in marketing requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate course work.

Fifty percent of course work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of non-business courses, B.B.A. students may include all hours taken in general education (usually 41), up to a total of nine hours in economics and three hours of COB 191 or MATH 220. The remaining hours to bring the total to 60 must be taken from any academic unit outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives.

Major Requirements

Students planning to major in marketing must complete the 30 hour, lower-division B.B.A. core requirements (see the College of Business section for the list of courses) prior to enrolling in upper-division B.B.A. core and marketing courses. Upper division courses normally begin in the first semester of the junior year. The lower-division core curriculum should be completed during the first two years of study along with most of the university General Education curriculum. Failing to complete all lower-division core requirements on time will delay enrollment in upper-division core and major courses. Two upper-division B.B.A. core courses are required: COB 300 (parts A, B, C and D) and COB 487.

Marketing Curriculum

The marketing curriculum consists of 27 credit hours in marketing. The required courses equip students with knowledge and skills all marketers should have. Elective courses allow students to pursue areas of special interest and prepare for specific career tracks in marketing.

Concentrations

Marketing has many aspects and marketers engage in a wide variety of activities. Marketing concentrations enable students to prepare for specific career paths within marketing.

Transfer Credit Policy

The marketing program will accept no more than two courses for transfer credit toward the major. These courses must be from AACSB institutions In addition to this general College of Business policy, there are restrictions on which courses will be accepted for transfer credit.

Total: 120 Credit Hours

Footnotes

1 The General Education program contains a set of requirements each student must fulfill. The number of credit hours necessary to fulfill these requirements may vary.2 When B.B.A. lower-level core courses are used to meet General Education requirements (e.g., ECON 200 and MATH 205), the number of non-business elective hours a student must take to get 120 hours increases from 7 to 13.

Additional Information

Fifty percent of course work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of nonbusiness courses, B.B.A. students may include all hours taken in general education (usually 41), up to a total of nine hours in economics and three hours of COB 191 or MATH 220. The remaining hours to bring the total to 60 must be taken from any academic unit outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives.

Major Requirements

Students planning to major in marketing must complete the 30 hour, lower-division B.B.A. core requirements (see the College of Business section for the list of courses) prior to enrolling in upper-division B.B.A. core and marketing courses. Upper division courses normally begin in the first semester of the junior year. The lower-division core curriculum should be completed during the first two years of study along with most of the university General Education curriculum. Failing to complete all lower-division core requirements on time will delay enrollment in upper-division core and major courses. Two upper-division B.B.A. core courses are required: COB 300A, COB 300B, COB 300C, and COB 300D and COB 487.

Marketing Curriculum

The marketing curriculum consists of 27 credit hours in marketing. The required courses equip students with knowledge and skills all marketers should have. Elective courses allow students to pursue areas of special interest and prepare for specific career tracks in marketing. Students will complete a concentration in one of the following:

Required Courses

Total: 27 Credit Hours

Recommended Schedule for Majors

Marketing majors should follow the course schedule below to complete the final two years of their program. It is possible to deviate from this program but care must be taken to ensure that all course prerequisites are met.